Women’s Employment and Fertility in a Global Perspective (1960-2015)
Working paper number
2020-53
Publication Year
2020
Paper Abstract
Background: Scant research explores the association between women’s employment and fertility on a truly global scale due to limited cross-national comparative standardized information across contexts.
Methods: The paper compiles a unique dataset that combines nationally representative country-level data on women’s wage employment from the International Labor Organization with fertility and reproductive health measures from the United Nations and additional information from UNESCO, OECD and the World Bank. This dataset is used to explore the linear association between women’s employment and fertility/reproductive health around the world between 1960 and 2015.
Results: Women’s wage employment is negatively correlated with total fertility rates and unmet need for family planning and positively correlated with modern contraceptive use in every major world region. Nonetheless, evidence suggest these findings hold for non-agricultural—but not agricultural—employment only.
Contribution: Our analysis documents the linear association between women’s employment and fertility on a global scale and widens the discussion to include reproductive health outcomes as well. Better understanding these empirical associations on a global scale is important for understanding the mechanisms behind global fertility change.
Methods: The paper compiles a unique dataset that combines nationally representative country-level data on women’s wage employment from the International Labor Organization with fertility and reproductive health measures from the United Nations and additional information from UNESCO, OECD and the World Bank. This dataset is used to explore the linear association between women’s employment and fertility/reproductive health around the world between 1960 and 2015.
Results: Women’s wage employment is negatively correlated with total fertility rates and unmet need for family planning and positively correlated with modern contraceptive use in every major world region. Nonetheless, evidence suggest these findings hold for non-agricultural—but not agricultural—employment only.
Contribution: Our analysis documents the linear association between women’s employment and fertility on a global scale and widens the discussion to include reproductive health outcomes as well. Better understanding these empirical associations on a global scale is important for understanding the mechanisms behind global fertility change.